The boss of Intu Derby has revealed plans to create a food court inside the centre’s Eagle Market.

The shopping giant acquired the indoor market from Derby City Council a year ago for £3.66 million. At the same time, a reciprocal deal saw the council purchase the former Debenhams building in Victoria Street, and six nearby properties, from Intu for £2.3 million.

When the deal was announced, Intu announced a three-year plan to “breathe new life” into the market.

A year on, Intu Derby general manager Adam Tamsett said plans include the creation of a food court to “showcase” local produce.

He said: “Everyone in the market, and outside it, knows it needs to change – so we’ve been looking at a number of different ideas to improve it for the benefit of everybody.

A food court is among the plans for Intu Derby's Eagle Market

"We’ve got some plans drawn up now that focus on food and catering, but also retain a traditional market feel.

“They’re really exciting plans that will hopefully bring something people haven’t seen before.”

Read More

Mr Tamsett said: “At the moment, we’re looking at the business model and how it would work.

“We’re not quite ready to come out and say ‘this is what we want to build’. These things do take time. We don’t want to release any plans unless we know it’s definitely what we want to do.

“Once we’re in a position to do so, we’ll consult with the traders as it’s really important they’re happy with the plans. And then we’ll showcase the plans to the wider and public to see what they think as well. Obviously there will be some new opportunities for businesses to come into the market as well.”

Adam Tamsett is the general manager at Intu Derby

Success stories elsewhere prompted Intu to look at establishing a food court within the market, according to Mr Tamsett.

He said: “Looking as our other destinations around the country, food is still a growing market. We’ve looked at lots of different markets around the UK and a lot have food as a core element. If you look at Altrincham Market near Manchester, that has a traditional market and a great mix of food stalls. That’s proved a success. It’d be great if we could recreate that in Derby.

Read More

More Intu Derby news

“In the main part of the centre, we have a lot of national and international brands. With the Eagle Market, we’ll look to celebrate the best of local produce. For example, there’s nowhere in Derby city centre where you can buy a good, quality Bakewell tart.

“We’ve had a few new stalls open up recently, including Spondon Bakery and Kelsey Cross Florist. They’re both really good examples of how we’re looking to bring in local produce and young, small local businesses. Hopefully they’ll both grow and succeed in the market.”

Read More

Since the acquisition, WMC Retail Partners – a London-based management company – has been brought in by Intu to breathe new life into the Eagle Market.

The company has helped rebrand the market and moved traders around to create spaces for the food court.

Mr Tamsett said other plans include improving access to the market.

More businesses are being lined-up for the Eagle Market

He said: “We need to open up the access from the shopping centre – that definitely forms part of the plans.

“It will take time to do that. All of the options we’ve looked at involve moving traders around the market. We’ve been really open and clear about that with some of the traders. A lot of them have longer leases and have been in their unit for a long time, and we’re respectful of that. So we need to work with the traders and that’s why a project like this takes time.

“We’ve also considered Derby Theatre, which is performing very well. However, the market currently closes at 5pm, Monday to Friday. We’re looking to see how we can create a better evening destination around that.”

Read More

Mr Tamsett became Intu Derby's general manager in October 2016. Since then, he has overseen a number of initiatives aimed attracting visitors in the evenings, as well as during the day.

These include the introduction of two leisure attractions - Hollywood Bowl and Paradise Island Adventure Golf.

Hollywood Bowl opened at Intu Derby in April 2017

Asked if more leisure attractions could be on the way, Mr Tamsett said: "I think if the right opportunity came up, we’d definitely look at more leisure opportunities.

"It’s still an expanding arena. We’ve looked at all different types of things, from escape rooms to climbing walls and zip wires. Things like that are up and coming. If we can find an operator that wanted to work with us, absolutely we’d look at that.

Read More

"In terms of finding space, there are various options. It’s an interesting building with lots of different complexities. There’s different ways you can cut and carve it.

"Opening the bowling and golf in part of the car park was an easy one, as it was always the plan to open something in that space if the demand was ever there. We could do something like that again in the future."

We've launched our very own app for Android and Apple devices which can be tailored to deliver the news and sport that you're interested in.